She Left Her Song in Our Hearts.
This simple phrase will forever remind me of the beautiful Louanne Pepper Cossar and the many lives that she touched through the years in Charleston, surrounding communities and especially at CARE.
A strong love of the arts started in Louanne at the young age of 2, when she began taking dance lessons. She soon blossomed in piano, dance, chorus and playing the flute in her local band. However, this was only the beginning for Louanne, whose travels led her all over the state of Mississippi in such roles as Lions All-State Band member, Mississippi Beta Club vice president, Miss Mississippi Pageant second alternate and TV dance party show “Teen Tempos” co-host.
Louanne Pepper Cossar tribute
Her love of the arts also took her out of Mississippi and all the way to New York, where she was asked to remain as a vocalist. Yet, it was her love for Mississippi and her George Cossar that led her back to Charleston. As we fast forward through the years, we find a Louanne that had become a pillar of Charleston and truly served her community each day. From the Charleston First United Methodist Church, to the Tallahatchie General Hospital Extended Care Facility, to the March of Dimes and the Rock River Arts Festival, it is impossible to determine the number of people that she touched in her daily walk through our streets and our entire state of Mississippi.
Louanne took pride in being a founding member of CARE. She served three years as president of the Board of Directors and also served as secretary for two years. It was very clear that CARE allowed Louanne to share her passion for the arts and arts education with the small town that she so loved. However, her love of CARE did not stop there. Louanne worked to showcase the work that CARE was doing on a much larger stage for the entire state to take notice of that little arts and revitalization organization in Charleston.
During her tenure as president, CARE was awarded the Nonprofit of the Year by the Community Foundation of Northwest Mississippi and she was also awarded the President’s Volunteer Service Award. Louanne’s passion and devotion to CARE were rewarded when she was presented with CARE’s Living Legend Award and a key to the City of Charleston, an honor that she so richly deserved for her long hours of hard work through the years.
Fast forward yet again to 2024. CARE would like to extend a very sincere thank you to the family of Louanne Pepper Cossar for the beautiful bench that they have recently donated in her honor to CARE and to the City of Charleston. Thank you to her children, George, Pepper and Anne Love, and a very special thank you to her husband, George, for their continued love and support of CARE through the years.
So you can see that even after all these years, Louanne Pepper Cossar is still “leaving her song (and so much more) in our hearts!”
